A curse and a blessing
by Raven White Fox
Summary: Felicity like everyone has secrets, only her secrets are a tad different from team arrows. Like that she has a brother, and she knows the avengers. But when a friend sees her, things change, dramatically. She moves to New York to live with her brother and his friends. Did I mention that Clint Barton was her brother?
1. Important Meetings

Chapter 1

Felicity was annoyed, very annoyed. With everything, but mostly Oliver. It was "do this Felicity, do that, Felicity, Hack into the government, Felicity, Find out this villains identity that I just so happened to have pissed off, Felicity", honestly, he was driving Felicity mad.

Oliver didn't even appreciate how much Felicity helped him and the others, he was just shouting orders like she was one of his soldiers. Felicity hadn't had a proper sleep in weeks and he has the audacity to accuse her of not doing her best? And if that's not bad enough Felicity has to deal with Isabel Rochev every-single-working-day, all because he was too lazy to come down a couple of floors to "talk to her about how they spend their nights".

But Felicity doesn't complain, she keeps going because she wants to help the city, save it. From whatever it needs saving from. It used to be gangs and drug dealers, but now it seemed that Oliver had lost sight of what was important and was just going after his personal vendetta, Slade Wilson.

"Are you even listening to me?" interrupted Felicity's thoughts, she cast her gaze upwards and met eyes with Isabel Rochev was standing over her with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, a look that made many run for miles. She had been ranting about the staff meeting that Oliver was supposed to show up for, and unfortunately he was nowhere to be seen, meaning that Felicity had to stand up and take over Oliver's job while looking like a fool, and while Oliver was MIA Isabel was in the background smirking for the whole of the meeting, and as soon as it was over she followed Felicity to her desk and started to say everything that she thought Felicity did wrong and how she was totally unprepared, and it seemed that after ten minutes of listing her faults she had finally realized that Felicity was no longer listening.

"Of course I'm listening to you Isabel" Isabel scowled at the name, she hated it when people used her first name instead of the mandatory Mrs Rochev, well that is everyone except for Oliver, in fact, she insisted that Oliver call her Isabel outside a meeting.

"And while I love talking to you, I have to call Oliver and find out where he is, he has a meeting with Wayne industries in four hours that he cannot miss. I also have many things that I need to take care of, so if that's all?" Felicity paused, waiting when it was clear Isabel wasn't going to say anything she carried on "I do believe I have a call to make."

Twisting her chair so that she was facing the computer Felicity typed her password in, in her peripheral vision she could still she Isabel standing at her desk visibly steaming, her face turning red _like a tomato _Felicity had to fight to keep her face straight after that thought.

After Isabel walked off, Felicity picked up the phone on her desk and typed in Oliver's number. When his voicemail answered instead of him himself Felicity frowned. She couldn't think of any reason why he wouldn't be answering, trying the phone in the compound brought the same results, and after trying all of the phones Oliver might be near she pushed the buttons for Diggle's phone number in, fingers crossed she waited with bated breath.

"Hello" came over the phone,

"Diggle, Where are you and Oli-"

A pleasant voice of a woman came on "You have reached the voicemail of," Diggle's voice came onto the phone "John Diggle" the lady's voice came on again "Please leave a message after the tone and I will get back to you shortly." Beep.

Felicity groaned, she really hated that voice at times, "Hey Digg, umm," she paused gathering her thoughts "Where are you guys? I have Isabel breathing down my back asking for Oliver, and he has a meeting for 12.30 with Wayne industries, he can't miss this one, their already mad that he missed the last one. Did something happen?" She really wished he had answered, "Just call me back on your whereabouts, okay, bye." After putting the phone away she let her head fall onto the desk.

#

#

A while later there was a ping at the elevator, Felicity didn't even bother turning her head to check to see who it was, she had long since given up hoping it was Oliver half an hour ago, she had work to do and if Oliver wasn't there than it was his fault, not hers. She carried on looking at her computer until she heard a cough. Glancing up from her work she saw Oliver, Felicity raised an eyebrow, she was still slightly mad that he didn't return any of her calls.

"What?" she said when Oliver had started to look impatient,

"Why didn't you call me?" he said annoyed, _annoyed at what though?_

"Call you for what?" Felicity asked confused,

"For work Felicity, why didn't you call me for work,"

Felicity's eyebrow raised, "Why didn't I call you? Because you didn't answer Oliver! I called both you and Digg multiple times, and when I didn't get an answer I gave up, you wanna know why, Oliver? Because not all of us can miss a day off of work without being fired, you, on the other hand, can strut in here, late, and do whatever the hell you please, because you own this place, not all of us are that fortunate Oliver."

As Felicity spoke her voice went from a mere whisper to nearly outright shouting, as she turned her head, she saw that a few of the staff had stopped to watch her little 'speech', most of them were shocked, this wasn't the Felicity that smiled at them and said hi as they passed by her desk to their destination, this was a new Felicity they had never seen before, but quite frankly most of them felt like Oliver had deserved this telling off. He had been seen going at her for small little things but nobody spoke up in fear of getting that anger turned on them. It was widely known that Felicity had one of the kindest hearts in the building, everybody cared for her. Needless to say, everybody would know about this by the end of the day, and almost everyone would be on her side.

Turning her head back around Felicity looked at Oliver, his face was expressionless, but his eyes held a hint of anger in them. Felicity stared at him, eyes not backing down. "Now if you don't mind I have work to do and you," She paused, trying to remember what was next on Oliver schedule, "and you" she gave him a pointed look "have a meeting with Wayne enterprises, so I would recommend you grab your notes that just so happen to be written by me. And go to the meeting room where you will spend the next two hours trying to get Wayne enterprises to agree to make that deal." She grabbed the notes and held them out.

Oliver's eyes flickered from her face to the notes, his face set, he grabbed them and walked away, presumably to the meeting room with Dig towing behind him lost for words.

Felicity sat back in her chair, not realising that she had stood up and sighed, she turned her head upwards so she was looking at the computer instead of her palms, the page was open at some important investments that needed to be done by today. Groaning she put her fingers on the keyboard and began to type.

#

#

Felicity heard some hushed voices a few hours later and looked up to see Diggle and Oliver arriving. She paused in her typing and tried to catch some of the words as they entered Oliver office, "I think the Arrow needs to visit-", She didn't hear the rest as the door had been closed behind them but from that little snippet of a conversation that she heard she knew they were talking about Oliver's next night out wearing the hood.

She breathed in than out, they were excluding her, she had become in executive assistant so she could be part of the conversations, and yet they didn't bother to include her in the last few ones. She was getting really fed up with Oliver.

Trying to distract herself she grabbed a hard drive from her bag, it was a royal blue one with TS written on it with an elegant scrawl. The hard drive was given to her by Tony the last time she was in New York and it held a lot of different files from just about everywhere including SHIELDS old files.

Opening it up she pulled up some information on Wanda Maximoff, she had seen her on TV the other day with the avengers, and needless to say, she was intrigued. The file stated that she was an experiment on Hydra and had lost her brother in the battle of Ultron as the public had dubbed it. She joined the avengers soon after and was in training.

Scrolling down Felicity read her powers, _Telekinesis, Telepathy, Mental and Emotional Manipulation_, and at the bottom, it said _**Code Name: Scarlet Witch. **_

Just as she was about to read the next file when Felicity heard someone coming and she quickly pulled up some bills that she had finished a few hours ago to make it look like she was doing some EA work.

Looking up Felicity saw Diggle standing over her, a slight smile on his lips,

"Hey, Felicity"

"Hey Dig, can I help you?"

"No, I just wanted to let you know that Oliver and I are leaving now and that we will meet you in the base, okay?"

Felicity looked at the clock on her computer, 19.32 was staring back at her.

"Yeah okay, I'll just lock up, and then I will go home and get changed, see you later"

"See you later Felicity."

Felicity nodded, watching as he walked into the elevator with the soft ding of the door closing.

As she started gathering things up she let her mind wander, what would happen if she told them about her brother? If she told them that her past was more gruesome than Olivers?

That she knew the avengers?

She knew Roy would be jumping up and down at the chance of meeting them, wondering if her brother could give him tips. Oh and Dig would get that weird look he sometimes gets butt he would be happy that I told him, Sara would smile and tell me that I was a cute sister, and Oliver, well, Oliver was Oliver, so there is no telling what he would do. Maybe be mad that I hid something from him, maybe be annoyed he didn't figure it out? All Felicity knows is that whatever happens, he won't be happy about it.

Climbing into my car my phone buzzed, checking it I saw it was my brother asking if I was going to see him any time soon as Natasha was getting lonely with all the boys, especially with Bruce gone. I told him that I wasn't sure but I will try for a visit soon.

#

#

"Take the next right, go down two blocks and take a left and it should be right in front of you" Felicity was in the lair, her fingers scurrying over the keyboard finding as much intell that she could. She was searching for Slade Wilson but it seems that after he had said Hi to Oliver that he had just vanished off the face of the planet like it was just Oliver's imagination. But Felicity and the others knew he was real as the security cameras recorded him leaving the Queens mansion shortly after their talk.

Felicity kept thinking that maybe if she had better tech she might be able to find him better but she knew it would be impossible to get new equipment down in the lair for her as Oliver only liked the computers from before he had been on the island even though they weren't even on the same level as the one they had now. Hell Felicity wouldn't even mind a two-year-old computer at this rate but she knew that Oliver was way too stubborn to even think about updating the software let alone actually getting it.

"Alright everyone, lets head back to the lair, this mission was a bust," Oliver said through the comms, Felicity heard the noises of people moving about, presumably leaving the warehouse that they had thought that Slade might be hiding in.

Half an hour later had seen that everyone had arrived back fine and gotten changed into their civilian clothes. Oliver and Sara had already left to go back to their houses while Roy and Dig were talking about his new training schedule while Felicity was still looking for any sign of Slade, so far she had found little to nothing, except that there were more people with eye patches than she had originally thought was possible.

After Dig left with a smile on his face she and Roy left together, Felicity dropping Roy at his house had become somewhat normal over the past month. She and Roy had also become closer as friends, they were practically like brother and sister, and many knew that Felicity would do anything to help her younger brother out.

After Felicity dropped Roy off she grabbed herself some Chinese thinking she had had too many belly burgers in this past week. And as soon as her head hit the pillow she was sound asleep.

#

#

The next day Felicity walked into Queen consolidated drenched but happy to get out of the rain. As Felicity walked up to her desk she saw Diggle with a paper bag leaning against her work desk. As he handed it to her she smiled happily, when Dig was sorry he normally did something small but nice and judging by the grease stain Felicity guessed it was a Baklava, he had introduced it to her while Oliver had run off to the island and she had instantly fallen in love with them but the company that does them isn't near where Felicity lives, so she either has to make a detour to get them to have Dig grab one on his way to work.

"I know Olivers been hard on you these last few weeks, do you want me to talk to him and try and get him to his senses." He looked at her questionably,

"No, it's okay, Oliver's just stressed at the moment, he'll come to his senses. And while I wait I am going to eat this Baklava that has my name written on it." Dig's smile was strained and she knew that he didn't think Oliver would come to his senses any time soon and Felicity agreed. She doubted he would come to his senses soon, but that was his fault, not hers.

Just then a ding came from the elevator and guessing from the sound of the footsteps if Felicity had to guess she would say it was Oliver, _speak of the devil and he shall appear. _

Oliver walked right past her, not saying a word or even acknowledging Digs presence, to which Dig gave her a look and rolled his eyes to. Felicity started chewing on her Baklava as she sat down at her desk and typed her password in. When she looked up she realised Diggle was still there, "Can I help you with anything Dig? No offence but I have to get these things done by today or Isabel will bite, my head off,".

"No," he hesitated "but are you sure your alright?"

"I'm sure Dig, but thanks for thinking about me and getting me the Baklava, I've been craving this," she said taking another bite out of her pastry.

"No problem" he got up and headed into Oliver's office.

#

#

Felicity heard a click of heels, and they were moving quickly, too quickly for a person to just be walking. She looked up to see Isabel practically running towards her which was an uncommon occurrence normally she would be walking the other way, angry, not running towards her looking panicked. Before Felicity could even wonder what got her panicked Isabel had already reached her desk.

Panting quickly Isabel asked "where… where's Oliver? We..we have that meeting."

"He's through there, why- "

But Isabel had carried on walking to Oliver's office "Oliver! We have a meeting in 5 minutes, we have to go!"

"What meeting" Oliver spoke slowly like he was talking to an injured animal,

"The 12.30 one" Oliver shook his head trying to convey that he didn't know about a meeting.

"Felicity?" her eyebrows raised, the first time he talks to her is because of a meeting? That was not what she expected.

Felicity turned her head to look at the calendar there was nothing there that was scheduled for today. "It's not in the calendar, meaning either I wasn't told or there's nothing scheduled."

Felicity chanced a look at Isabel already making guesses as to why she was never told about this meeting.

"We will just have to figure this out later," Oliver sighed

He pushed past her and headed towards the meeting room with Isabel at his side. After a few steps, Isabel paused and turned her face so half was facing Felicity and the other forwards. "Can you grab my notes, Felicity? Please?"

Felicity's eyebrows rose, _did Isabel just say please? This must be important then. _Felicity nodded and walked off to the stairs knowing the elevator would take a while as it wasn't a Stark industry one. Quickly grabbing Isabel's notes she made it back down to the meeting room with a good time.

As she neared the door she heard a familiar voice, but she just couldn't place it. Opening the door she kept her head down and gave a quick nod to Dig who was standing at the doorway with a glint of something in his eyes, of what she didn't know.

Felicity heard Isabel apologise again and the voice that answered surprised her making her look up, it was a female's voice, the one that held authority and a sense of calm, Felicity knew it well and knew that there were few people who could do that and instantly knew why she recognised the voice.

Pepper Potts stood in front of her, her smile inviting and warm while her posture was in full meeting mode, back straight, chin up and hand out ready to shake.

Oliver was the one who grabbed her hand first "Hello Miss Potts, I'm Oliver Queen the owner of this company and this is Isabel my second in command" Isabel reached out to shake Pepper's hand which Pepper shook gracefully "my bodyguard John Diggle" Digg gave a quick nod "and my EA, Felicity Smoak" he gestured to her, she smiled to Pepper whose eyes were wide.

"Felicity?" She heard a voice ask, turning her head she saw there was another person in the room, one that had been on his phone until her name had been called out.

Felicity's eyes widened with one thought going through her mind as she looked at him, _Well shit!_

**A/N**

**Hey guys, this is a rewrite of my original curse and a blessing fanfiction. I decided to rewrite it as I didn't like a few of the aspects that I had written. Like how it was in first perspective, the timeline was wrong in some places, there were spelling mistakes and so on. **

**I do hope that this will be a different kind of Arrow and Avengers crossover than you are used to. **

**I am looking for a beta or two, drop me a PM if you think you would like to help, Thx.**

**Also please R&R, as it makes us writers feel motivated to keep writing.**

**~RavenWhiteFox**


	2. A new perspective

**Hey Guys! I apologize for not updating sooner, my mum became very ill and looking after her became my top priority. I had a very hard time balancing school and looking after my mum for the last 5 months and writing fanfiction was just too hard to do on top of all that, I do hope you can forgive me, but my mum needed to come first so I hope you understand. **

**This chapter is not beta-ed as I don't have one, any mistakes are mine and mine only. **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Arrow or Avengers (no matter how hard I day dream otherwise).**

**Enjoy! **

Chapter 2

Tony hated meetings. It was a well-known fact. Which was why he was surprised when Pepper told him he needed to go to one and that it "wasn't up for debate". She knew how much he hated meetings. How often he skipped them. Especially when she was his assistant. No matter how many threats she made he rarely went to meetings. It was a well-known fact. And in all honesty, he was planning on going down to his workshop and 'accidentally' missing the plane.

That was until he learned where it was being held and who with.

Tony had thought back to a few days before. The avengers had been scattered around the lounge talking when Clint's phone had rung. He had smiled when he had first answered it but after a few minutes that smile turned to a frown, no one, not even Natasha, who had known him the longest, could fathom a guess as to why he looked so unhappy so suddenly. After he had hung up he had stormed off into the elevator and pressed it so hard that Tony was glad that he made it extra strong in case Steve was ever to hit it too hard accidentally. It was only later when he had returned from shooting range they found out that the call was from Felicity.

Apparently Felicity wasn't doing too good in Starling City, not that she had said it outright to him, but Clint knew her well enough to tell when something was wrong. He had said the way she was talking about Oliver Queen and his co-worker Isabel Rochev told him that she was less than happy at them.

He didn't say it out loud but they all knew that Clint wanted to go see Felicity, but nobody said anything because they knew that he couldn't in case there was a last-minute mission. The only way for him to see her would be if she visited. And anyone with half a mind could tell that that was what he wanted. His big-brother instincts had kicked in and there was nothing they could do that could turn them off until he saw his little sister.

Over the last few days everyone had noticed the small change in Clint, he was tapping his foot constantly or spinning something in his hands which was normally a drumstick. He also kept checking his phone, probably to see if Felicity had texted or called him.

So it was with a smirk on his face Tony had started putting his plan together, after the meeting with Oliver Queen he would go to her office in the IT department and he would convince Felicity to take a break from all the work she was doing and have a vacation in New York. That way Clint and his brotherly instincts might calm down and Felicity would hopefully cheer up.

At dinner that night Tony looked at Clint, Clint was playing with his food and he wasn't his usual happy and jokey self. Tony seriously hoped that seeing Felicity would cheer him up again.

After dinner, he had grabbed Clint and dragged him to his workshop where he showed Clint the meeting plan in the calendar, including where the meeting was to be held. At first, Clint was beyond confused, but when Tony told him that Queen Consolidated was in Starling City Clints eyes filled with understanding when he realised what Tony was implying.

So when Tony boarded the plane the next day, on time he might add, he knew he had a mission, a mission for a friend, a mission that he would not fail.

#

#

Tony had been standing with his back against the glass while on his phone when two people came walking in. "I apologise for being late we had a small problem that needed to be taken care of, I hope you weren't waiting long" he heard a female voice say, looking up from his phone he recognised her to be Isabel Rochev from the files he had read earlier when being briefed by Pepper on the plane, he also noticed that Oliver Queen had entered behind her with a tall black guy in a suit standing at the entrance behind him.

"No worries, was everything fixed?" he heard Pepper asked, Tony, tuned out of the conversation as Queen started talking, _how did Felicity deal with him? He sounded so snotty _He went back to the schematics of Natashas Widow bites, she had requested them to be upgraded yesterday as the backlash of the bracelet was too strong. Tony heard another person enter and Queen began introducing everyone, Tony learned that the guy who was standing at the door was called John Diggle but only when Oliver got to his EAs name did Tony get interested "and this is my EA Felicity Smoak,".

Tony looked up from his phone, eyeing the blonde Executive Assistant, there in front of him stood Felicity Smoak, the reason he was here. She hadn't noticed him yet as she was too busy staring at a wide-eyed Pepper, who hadn't expected to see her here.

Tony looked at her, she looked so different from the last time he had seen her. Her eyes were sunken with dark circles under her eyes, her skin was pale as if it hadn't seen the sun weeks, her blonde hair that was normally down was in a ponytail looking greasy. But the worst part of it was that Felicity wasn't smiling like she normally did, she held her head high with a straight face her usual bubbly personality gone, nowhere to be seen, it made Tony sad to see her like this, and if he guessed right, the same could be said for Pepper who was looking at Felicity with a look of sadness. The happy girl that talked and talked and found the best in people was gone and neither of them liked the person replacing her.

"Felicity?"

Felicity turned to him, eyes widening, and Tony knew that she was probably swearing in her mind, "Tony?" her eyebrows were raised but apart from that her face was blank, showing no emotion. She had an invisible mask on so that she wouldn't have to show her emotions, it made Tony want to strangle somebody, that kind of mask takes a while to build she would have had to go through hardships every single day, what had happened to her since he last saw her?

"What are you doing here?"

"I here for a meeting between Stark Industries and Queen Consolidated, why are you here?" Tony looked at her "and did her majesty over there just call you his EA?", Tony for the life of him couldn't figure out why she would go from being an IT girl to being an Executive Assistant.

Felicity smirked when she heard his choice of a nickname for Oliver, "Yep,"

"And since when are you an Executive Assistant?" he asked her trying to figure out why she would take a job that she didn't like judging from what had Clint said.

Just as Felicity was about to answer him another voice joined the conversation, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but, do… but how do you know Miss Smoak, Mr Stark?" The Rochev girl had interrupted them,

"I know Felicity because she's Cli-" He stopped and saw that Felicity shaking her head discreetly, and Tony vaguely recalled a memory from about a year ago when someone had asked why she and Clint pretended not to be brother and sister, the answer they gave made sense, Felicity shouldn't be known because it would've put her and her friends in danger all those years ago. And now, if the press got a hold of the fact that Clint had a sister they would go ballistic, they wouldn't leave her alone, she would have reporters knocking down her door, and let Tony tell you, it's not pleasant.

So he quickly changed his story "She was asked to join Stark Industries when she got out MIT but turned it down, it's not often very often that someone turns us down, so I went to see her in case it was a matter that could be fixed"

"Why?" Tony turned his head so that he was facing Oliver,

"Why?" He repeated "She graduated top of her class in MIT and did many great things while there, she tried to do what she thought was right and when things didn't go the way she wanted them to go she evolved, not many people can do that like she did. When she graduated many companies wanted to hire her and when she turned down Stark Industries? Well I had to go and see her myself, didn't I!" he said incisively,

Tony wasn't lying when he said that Felicity was offered a job at Stark industries and many other places, she had been, and she turned them all down. The only thing he lied about was that he had gone to meet her, that part was purely made up.

The guy that was standing by the door looked on in confusion "If I may interrupt?" he paused and looked at Queen as if asking permission, who nodded in return, "Why did she turn down your offer?"

Tony noted that Rochev also seemed very interested in his answer, "Because..." he paused not actually knowing the answer to that question "Why did you turn down our offer?" he said looking at Felicity.

"Because I had just graduated from University and I didn't want to move all the way to New York just after I had finished years at college, besides I was just starting out, I wanted to try and get a grip of things before I made any important decisions," Felicity told him

He noticed that Queen and Diggle were both staring at Felicity, Diggle with a look of curiosity but Queen had a weird look on his face and Tony decided that he didn't like the look one single bit.

For the rest of that meeting, Tony observed that anytime Queen looked at Felicity his eyebrows scrunched together, as if annoyed. Pepper had also caught on to the looks he was giving Felicity and became increasingly worried about it.

#

#

After the meeting, Tony sent Felicity a text asking her when her lunch break was and saying that they should grab some food and catch up. It didn't take her long to respond with a cafe's name and a time to meet at.

Two hours later Tony stepped out of his car and into a little cafe called Java Barista where he looked around for the blonde women. Catching her eye he made his way over and ordered his coffee.

They sat in silence while they waited for their order to arrive and when it did the only words that came out of Felicity's mouth was a 'thank you'. Tony stared at her, wondering what had happened, by now the Felicity he knew would have started talking about some random thing and have rambled on about it, but this Felicity hadn't done that, she had kept her mouth shut and Tony was lost at why she was being so quiet.

Deciding he had had enough of the silence Tony said "So, Felicity, When were you going to tell us you were working with the Arrow guy? What's his name again? Merida? No, that can't be it, Robin?" Tony watched as Felicity became as white as a sheet "What about…" He scrunched his eyebrows together as if he was in deep thought "The Hood!"

If Felicity had been drinking her coffee at that moment Tony was sure that it would be all over him right now. As he took a sip of his own coffee he pondered why she was working with him, was it because she knew him personally outside the mask? Or that she wanted to help people again? Or maybe she missed the adrenaline one felt when catching a villain, but if that was the case why didn't she join the avengers? She would be great and work well with the team should she join.

"Wha… how? How did you?"

Tony watched her as she stumbled over her words, "How did I know you were working with the Hood?"

She nodded her head; confused. "Well it was hard, you had covered up all your tracks when hacking but you missed one little detail."

Felicity slowly leaned forwards, and Tony knew that if he hadn't caught her attention by talking about the hood that he had definitely caught her attention now. Neither of them liked to be bested and if they make a mistake they would like to know about it as soon as it's made.

"You didn't clear your search history" pin-drop silence was what followed, Tony inwardly laughed, it was funny that the only reason she had been caught was because she had always searched up the person before she relayed the message to the hood, but Tony was also glad that she did, it showed that she didn't just blindly trust the man as one might expect, no, she was cautious of him and his mission, whatever it may be.

Another thing that Tony couldn't help but notice was the fact that not everybody who she looked up was met by the hood, in fact, some of those people didn't have any crimes on their profile and if they did they had already paid the price or had done it for a good reason. Did that mean she didn't tell him everything? That she had kept things from him? And if she did, does that mean she doesn't trust him? And if that was the case why was she working for him? Tony's head was buzzing with questions but he knew that he wasn't going to get an answer, not right now anyway.

The sound of Felicity groaning shook away his thoughts as he focussed on her, she had her face in her hands rubbing hey eyes. When she looked back up at him she asked: "does Clint know?"

"No, he was pissed enough as it was after hearing about Queen that I thought telling him that you were working with another archer would only make him hop on a plane and drag you back to New York." He looked at her when she made a sound "He's worried because he cares about you, Felicity, you know that right?."

Felicity smiled softly it was nice to know that despite their differences, he will always be the protective older brother that she loved, "Yeah".

#

#

The two of them stayed in the cafe for an hour catching up, until Felicity's phone buzzed signalling that her lunch break was over. After saying goodbye to Tony with a promise of calling him later, she set out for Queen Consolidated.

Walking back she tried to get her thoughts together, Tony had suggested to her that she should take a vacation, more specifically a vacation in New York. And she wanted to, she really wanted to, she missed her older brother, but was it selfish to leave Oliver right when he needed her?

A voice in her head told her that he didn't need her, that they were getting nowhere with finding Slade, and that she deserved a break. And the voice had a point, they were getting nowhere with Slade. She shook her head and tried to get rid of those thoughts as she entered the building, it wouldn't be good to start having doubts about the team, not now.

The security guard looked up from his newspaper and smiled up at her kindly. After signing in at the reception she and another office worker made small talk as they went up in the lift.

When the doors opened the first thing she heard was shouting, a male and female. She recognised the first one as being Oliver, having heard him shout multiple times in the last few days. The second one, however, was a bit harder to place. Walking up the corridor she noticed that everyone she passed was hurrying; in the opposite direction, looking scared.

Rounding the corner so that Oliver's office was in view, Felicity saw Isabel and Oliver a few feet apart yelling and screaming at each other. Which explained why everyone was scurrying away like mice. Turning her head slightly she saw Dig leaning against her desk, eyes closed and a pained expression on show.

Feeling her stare he opened his eyes, his eyes flickered to the bickering co-CEOs. Felicity raised her eyebrows silently asking what was going on to which Dig just shook his head. She started walking forwards to join Dig at her desk When the door opened wide and Felicity caught a few words coming from Isabel's mouth "-FIGURE IT OUT! AND GET YOURSELF TO WORK ON TIME!" She stormed out of the office, her heels like bullets on the floor "You!" She said pointing to Felicity "Come with me."

Shocked, Felicity stood there for a few seconds before her brain processed the request and made her turn on her heel to follow Isabel who was walking at such a fast pace that Felicity nearly had to run to keep up with her.

Following Isabel into her office, Felicity looked around, unlike Olivers it had a more personal touch to the place. Isabel walked around her desk reaching out for a pile of files that were sitting innocently on top of her keyboard but Felicity knew they were anything but innocent, she had learned a long time ago that files meant extra work and longer hours.

Isabel picked them up and looked at her "I need you to look at these projects and make notes so that we can decide which to invest in, okay?" Felicity nodded and took the files from her, biting her tongue because she knew that Isabel would be less tolerant of a remark than Oliver she said "Will that be all, Miss Rochev?" a saying that she had learned from Pepper back when she had been Tony's assistant. Isabel's eyebrows rose up at the comment "No, that will be all." Felicity nodded once again and turned and walked towards the door.

As she opened it Isabel called out "Wait," Felicity turned her head, "Why does Oliver act like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like he's a lazy idiot, we both know he's not. So why does he put on an act?"

Felicity thought for a minute not sure what to say, it was a good question, the fact was that Felicity wasn't entirely sure it was acting, maybe in the beginning he was, but right now?

She wasn't so sure, Oliver barely did the minimum at work and even then it was hard just to get him to do that. He was always late and always second-guessing his colleagues including her.

She knew that if Oliver put his mind to it, he could make his company great once again, and she hoped that it would be but he just couldn't seem to be bothered to do the required work to see that happen.

She could tell that Isabel had also figured out that he was holding back, which was probably why they were fighting, and as the first tactic hadn't worked Isabel had now come to her for answers.

"I… I don't know, I guess you will just have to ask him. " She told Isabel,

"I already did, he managed to change the subject and every time I try to bring it up..." Isabel trailed off "...well you saw what happened"

"More liked heard," Felicity said before she could stop herself and then she winced realising that she could really get into trouble for saying something like that to her boss. However, to her surprise Isabel's lips twitched upwards, "Mhmm, how many people do you think heard us arguing?"

"A lot," Felicity paused wondering if she would be allowed to continue, it wasn't like she and Isabe were friends, after all, she could still get in trouble if she allows her mouth to run off. However, when Isabel let out a small snort she carried on "And those who didn't hear will probably know by the end of the day, this is Queen Consolidated's rumour mill that we are talking about."

Isabel nodded dejectedly "Speaking of rumours, what's going on between you and Mr Queen?"

"Nothing," Felicity answered honestly

"So why did Oliver make you his EA? If you're not… you know…" Isabel trailed off

"Again, that's something you will have to ask Oliver,"

Isabel's eyebrows scrunched together "but surely he would have told you?" At Felicity's shake of head her eyes widened "you mean, you went from being an IT girl to being his Executive Assistant overnight, and you don't even know why?" Isabel asked Incredulously.

Felicity thought back to the conversation that she and Oliver had had when she had first found out about the 'promotion' that she had got. Sadly she couldn't tell Isabel that the main reason for her promotion was because Oliver 'couldn't travel down to the IT department every time he wanted to discuss how he and she spent their nights together as it would only make the rumours sound true to Isabel.

So instead she said "It might be because at the time when he was looking for an Assistant, many people were still mad at him for what his mother did and were willing to go to any lengths to get revenge so… maybe he wanted someone he could trust? Someone he knew wouldn't try and hurt him because of his mother's actions?" Felicity knew that what she had just said was complete and utter bullshit but she was hoping that Isabel would fall for it.

Thankfully Isabel fell for it and nodded "I suppose that makes sense," she slid into her seat and sat there for a few minutes her face full of contemplation. Just as Felicity was starting to wonder if she should leave as she felt awkward just standing there did Isabel finally open her mouth again.

"I'm sorry"

"Excuse me?" Felicity asked wondering if she had heard wrong

"I'm sorry" nope, it sounded the same to Felicity, but that couldn't be right, Isabel practically hated her, _why would she be saying sorry?' _

Something must have given away Felicity's surprise because Isabel clarified "For being hard on you all these months, I've been shouting at you for Olivers mistakes, like when he missed that staff meeting yesterday? I shouldn't have shouted at you like that, you didn't deserve it." She paused and then continued, "and I'm sorry for assuming that you were using Oliver to get into a higher position, you didn't even ask for the job."

Felicity looked at Isabel, her eyes held regret and Felicity knew from years of training that she sincerely meant it.

"Apology accepted" she said kindly "but next time don't just assume, okay? Get your facts right instead of just listening to the office gossip and then act on what you learn." She then turned and opened the door and walked out holding the files close to her chest, leaving a confused Isabel Roschv behind.

#

#

The rest of the day moved slowly for Felicity and she couldn't wait to get home and kick back on her bed. However, when she finally did leave Queen Consolidated it was because she was heading to the lair instead of her much-beloved bed, much to her dismay.

Arriving at the lair was just like any other day, Sara and Oliver were sparring on the mats, Diggle was watching at the sides and Roy was leaning against her desk waiting for her while keeping an eye on both Sara and Oliver in hopes of learning some new tricks.

Upon hearing her enter both Roy and Dig looked up and smiled at her to which she returned, Dig returned to watching the couple spar while Roy turned around as she slid into her chair so that he was facing her.

"Hey, Blondie, nice day at work?"

"It was certainly interesting that's for sure." she answered, thinking about the conversation she had with Isabel earlier "How was yours?"

"It was okay, I-" he was interrupted by Oliver flipping Sara onto the ground to which she countered with sweeping her right legs across causing Oliver to roll giving Sara time to stand back up and bring him down with a flying head scissors throw.

Felicity smiled, it was nice to see Oliver getting his ass kicked for once, it helps take his ego down a peg. Roy was smiling too but she wasn't sure if it were for the same reasons as her or because the flying head scissors throw was a new move that he had never seen before.

Oliver had just stood up and joined Sara in a fighting position when Dig called out "Oliver," making him look away from Sara and to Diggle.

"Yeah?"

"It's 7.45ish, shouldn't we start suiting up?" Oliver sighed, most likely wanting to carry on sparing with Sara, he hesitated before saying "Yeah, alright suit up guys,".

Roy pushed off of the desk and started walking towards his quiver when Oliver shouted out "Not you Roy, I want you to stay here, with Felicity" Roy looked at him puzzled, he had gone out with Oliver and Sara yesterday,_ had he upset Oliver? Done something wrong?_

Roy turned so that he was facing Felicity again and raised his eyebrows, silently questioning if she knew what was going on the response he got was a shrug of the shoulders and an expression of pitying.

#

#

After the vigilantes had finished changing Oliver turned to Felicity and asked her where she was with finding Slade.

Looking up from her typing she said "Nowhere, It's like he's just disappeared, I've got every camera looking out for him, so I guess the only thing we can do is wait."

"I don't wait Felicity, So hurry it up"

"But-"

He interrupted her, "Find a way and do it. Fast". He then turned to Roy,

Felicity saw Roy's face fill up with hope as he said "Yeah?", he was probably hoping that Oliver had reconsidered taking him,

"I want you to practice shooting the targets. Until you hit bullseyes whenever you shoot you won't be going back out." He turned and left leaving a wide-eyed Roy behind. Roy gave Felicity a look of pure sadness that Felicity felt like her heart was being broken in two.

#

#

Roy was getting annoyed, she could see it with the way he clenched and unclenched his fists. It had been around about an hour since the others had left and what Oliver had said had left Roy irritated and upon the repeated missed shots he was starting to lose it. Felicity had tried to just let him be in hopes he would cool down, but it seemed it was doing the opposite, with every minute he was getting more and more worked up and Felicity knew she needed to do something before it blew up in her face.

Checking that there were no crimes going on she turned on mute on her commlink and swivelled her chair so that she could see Roy. He had his back to her facing the targets, bow in hand and arrows sitting on the table, he picked up one of the offending arrows and loaded it into the bow, Felicity watched as he lined up, making small mental notes on how and where he could improve, after a few minutes of him trying to line the arrow up to what Oliver would call 'perfect' he released it only for it to hit the white of the target, he breathed in slowly and let it out again, trying to keep calm.

Felicity remembered when she first was learning how to shoot an arrow. Unlike her brother she wasn't a natural and she often got angry when she missed continuously, so she knew exactly where Roy was coming from.

She got up and walked towards Roy but kept her distance when he released another arrow, it, like the last one, missed.

"Don't lock your knees, keep them straight but don't lock them as it will throw you off balance making it harder to keep the bow in one position."

Roy looked at her with a hint of confusion and surprise but did as she said, Felicity took that as a sign that he was willing to try it her way and so she began instructing him, giving him tricks she and her brother learned over the years. "Lean forwards more, you want everything to be straight, sort of like making a T with your body" when he leaned forwards she told him to "Rotate your arm out so that when you are firing the arrow the string had less of a chance of hitting his arm," she moved forwards correcting his arm position and once she had done that she looked up at Roy who was looking at her with a look of curiosity on his face.

After giving him a few more tricks she told him the most important thing she had learned from her brother which was that "archery isn't about calculating where the arrow is going to land, it's about estimating where it's going to end up, and for that to happen you need to stop aiming and let you mind and body take over." If she had been paying attention she would know that when she said that, Roy had looked at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion as he wandered where the IT girl who was supposed to know nothing about archery went. This Felicity knew what she was talking about, and she knew from experience.

Felicity had never shown any interest in what Oliver was telling him, so where had the tips come from? As far as he knew she had never shot an arrow before, but that can't be right, from the way she was talking it sounded like she was a pro. She was giving him tips that even Oliver had never said to him.

"Felicity… where did you learn all these tips?"

Before she could answer the opening of the door upstairs and footsteps coming down made Felicity mumbled a quick "I'll tell you later" and with that she scurried back to her computers, acting as if she had been there the whole time.

**So… Felicity has met Tony and has used her knowledge of Archery to help Roy. The whole conversation with Isabel was not planned, it just happened, I personally like to think that there is good in everyone and if Isabel stopped being mean to Felicity then she and her could work well together. What do you think? I know that Isabel is most definitely out of character but… this is fanfiction. **

**I do hope to update soon. It won't be as long as the wait for this chapter (again, I do apologize). **

**Please review as I love hearing people's thoughts and if you have any ideas or things you want to share plz do and I will try my best to incorporate it into my story.**

**Until next time…**

**Raven White Fox xxx**


	3. A fight and it's defender

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow or the Avengers. If I did, well let's just say my life would be very different. **

**Also, This chapter isn't Beta-ed as I don't have one. If you would like to become my Beta drop me a PM.**

#

#

Before she could answer the slamming of the door upstairs and footsteps coming down made Felicity mumbled a quick "I'll tell you later" and with that she scurried back to her computers, acting as if she had been there the whole time.

And not a moment too soon as Starlings City's Vigilantes arrived downstairs. Two of Starlings City's Vigilantes were wearing worried looks and the third Vigilante was the reason for their looks.

Many people had learned that Oliver's footsteps were often the tale-telling of a storm. 'The thunder before the storm' if you would. The skies could look clear but the thunder can always tell you otherwise. Every vigilante who had worked with The Hood could tell you that if there's thunder then you had better prepare for a storm. And from the way that Oliver slammed his bow onto the table, you knew that the storm had been brewing.

"Oliver" Dig broke the silence,

"What?" Oliver growled, he turned his head slightly, his eyes narrowed, to send a look to Diggle.

Felicity shot a glance at Sara imploringly, hoping that she could somehow read her mind and tell her why Oliver was angry. The glance only made Felicity start to regret taking her comm out of her ear.

"Look, man, I want to find Slade just as much as you do" Oliver let out a scoff "but don't you think we should focus on other things?"

"Like what?" Oliver challenged

"Like going after that drug dealer," He said it more as a statement than a question. Felicity could tell that Dig was trying to keep calm but she could see that his patience was wearing.

"A drug dealer?" Oliver asked incredulously "You want to go after a drug dealer while Slade's out there?" He looked at Sara as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Dig has got a point Oliver" he tilted his head at her as if to say 'you too?' "We have no leads, maybe we should go after that Stardust drug."

"You guys want to go after the Stardust drug instead of going after Slade? The guy who's got mirakuru pulsing through his body? Slade needs to be stopped! Not forgotten about in favour of a drug!" His voice was growing louder and louder with each word.

"And we agree with you." Dig broke up Oliver's rant "However we are getting nowhere with him, we've got no leads, no nothing."

"And whose fault is that?" Oliver rounded on Felicity, the silent accusation hung in the air.

Felicity felt her eyes widen into a look of disbelief, had she not proven herself worthy of being part of the team? Has she not been there for them day in day out? Has she not been sitting at her computer every day until her fingers were sore looking for leads?

"Excuse me?"

"It's been a month Felicity. We've been out on the streets every. Single. Night. And all you've been doing is twiddling your thumbs on your computers. We've been counting on you to find Slade, and yet, you have nothing!"

Three pairs of eyes looked at Oliver with looks of disgust and disbelief. They all knew that Felicity had been down here working her ass off to help them. Yes, they may have been the ones out on the streets, but who directed them to the streets they were needed at? Who made sure that no evidence was found that could incriminate them as vigilantes? Who had been looking non-stop for Slade since Oliver deemed him a threat to Starling City? The answer was plain and simple. Felicity Smoak.

She was the one that kept them safe from the eyes of the police and got them whatever information they needed, she was also the one to make sure that their equipment was in good condition. Without her they would be lost, how did Oliver not see that?

Felicity took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting to ten "I'm doing the best I can Oliver, just like everybody else. I don't know what more you want from me" she said it calmly but inside she felt like a tornado waiting to be unleashed

"What I want from you is to focus on the task at hand, not for you to be busy keeping secrets from us! You know our secrets, why won't you tell us yours?" Oliver dared,

"Firstly, I have pushed myself just as hard as anybody in this room, I have stayed focused and have done as you asked to keep this city safe! And secondly, you've barely told us ANYTHING, about your time on the island so you can't talk about keeping secrets, Oliver, and thirdly, if I want to keep a secret I DON'T need your permission. A secret is a secret for a reason, Oliver. Did you ever think of why I kept it from you?" she stressed.

"We are meant to be a team. A team that works together. We can't do that if we have secrets."

"I don't see you volunteering to share. You have your secrets, Oliver. Sara has many, both Roy and Diggle have their secrets. And just like them, I have mine, can't you just respect that, and leave it at that?" Felicity didn't understand how the conversation had gone from Slade to her secrets so quickly. It wasn't like any of her secrets had anything to do with Slade.

"No, I can't. I've told you all I can, you guys wouldn't handle-"

"You don't think we could handle it?" Felicity interrupted "I think we know what we can and can't handle Oliver. You're not the only one with a bad past. Diggle served in Afghanistan for 5 years. And Roy grew up in the glades, you don't think they've faced hardships? Things they regret doing? Sara is an Assassin for god's sake, I'm sure she has regrets and secrets."

The three onlookers she mentioned shared brief looks with each other, each thinking of something they regretted doing in their past. Felicity was right, they had done things they had regretted doing. Whether it was on purpose or accidental. They all had regrets.

"We are not talking about them. We are talking about you and your failure of doing the one thing you're meant to be good at!" Oliver denounced as he slammed his fists into the table expressing his anger.

"Hey! That's not fair! We wouldn't be able to capture half of the men we do without her. Felicity is doing her best!" Roy defended Felicity. He had been hoping that Oliver would see some sense but he would be damned if he allowed Oliver to degrade Felicity further after all she had done.

"Well obviously her _best_ isn't good enough!" retorted Oliver "I brought her into this thinking she could find out villains identities but after this? I'm not sure anymore"

"After what?" Roy asked. Felicity looked at Diggle, she had thought that either he or Oliver would have told Roy and Sara about the meeting with Tony but apparently not.

"What did she do? Huh? I may not know the full story, but if Felicity kept something from us it either because it's not a threat or none of our business. You keep focussing on the negatives, what she hasn't managed to do, but what about the things she did do? There are more of those than failures" While Roy was talking he had unconsciously moved forwards until he stood right in front of Felicity, almost as if he were protecting her. Protecting her from Oliver.

Roy turned his head back to look at Felicity, her eyes were welled up with unshed tears from Oliver's accusations. He knew he had to get her out of the bunker. He started walking towards the exit, giving a little nod to Felicity as he passed her; a silent message to follow him.

#

#

**Hey Guys, I know, I know. It's been a while. I'm sorry. Life can be complicated at the best of times. And trust me these aren't the best of times. **

**I want to thank the people who reviewed, followed and favourited. You guys helped motivate me to write this chapter. **

**I would like to ask you to review, it would certainly help motivate me to write the next chapter. It can be as small or as long as you like. I just want to hear your thoughts.**

**TBC**


	4. The Truth Will Out

Roy walked up the staircase; his head held high with Oliver's words fresh in his mind. The only sign that Felicity had heard his silent message to follow him was the rhythm of her heels clicking, repeatedly, on the metal staircase. He relished in the normalcy of the sound.

His time in the lair had started typically enough. Oliver, Sarah and Diggle were already there when he arrived, so he just sat his bag down and leaned against Felicity's desk making small talk with Diggle as he watched the two lovers Spar. Watching them was like watching a dance, a dance of two assassins. Each move they made was dangerous and calculated, and yet it was so elegant and bewitching to the mind.

When Felicity entered the lair, she had looked happier and lighter than she had been in a while. It made him smile. She had told him that her day had been 'interesting'. And just as he was about to ask what she meant, a loud bang echoed around the room, interrupting him, they had both looked up to see that Oliver had flipped Sarah onto the ground, and yet, Sarah still, by some miracle, managed to take him done with a move Roy had never seen before. In the corner of his eye he saw Felicity smile at the fact that Sarah had beaten Oliver again.

The day had taken its turn when Oliver had held him back so that he could work on his archery skills, he hated being told to stay back, sure Oliver allowed him onto the field every now and then, but it wasn't enough. He wanted to help, protect the people that couldn't defend themselves, and yet Oliver wasn't letting him. The thoughts kept stewing in his mind as her shot at the target that Oliver had given him until he missed the target altogether. He fired again. And again. And again. Missing each time. He clenched and unclenched his fist. His anger was getting the better of him. But he kept firing out of rage, just wanting to hit something, anything.

Roy didn't even hear Felicity until she was behind him telling him to not lock his knees, he looked at her in confusion but did as she said. She made little adjustments to his position and told him that "archery isn't about calculating where the arrow will land, it's about estimating where it's going to end up, and for that to happen you need to stop guessing and let your mind and body take over." that had to be the wisest thing anybody had ever said to him about archery. But it did make him wonder where she had learned all those tricks; it can't have been from Oliver, his motto is 'shoot until you hit the target', which doesn't typically help. When the door upstairs opened, she went back to her computer and the look she gave him was enough to tell him not to share her secrets with the others.

After thirty seconds of the group arriving, Roy had already begun thinking of ways to escape. Oliver was radiating waves of anger, he had seemed annoyed earlier on, but Roy had just brushed it off as a bad day. Now, however, Oliver looked like he wanted to punch someone, possibly even kill. Diggle had tried talking to Oliver to try and get him to calm down but it seemed his efforts had just made things worse. But Roy agreed with Sarah and Diggle. They made good points, wouldn't it be wiser to look into the stardust drug instead of waiting like sitting ducks for a scrap of news about Slade?

And then Oliver's anger became directed to Felicity, and honestly? Roy wasn't even sure how it happened. One minute they were arguing about lack of leads and then, suddenly, about withholding secrets. Roy reflected back to Felicity giving him advice, did that have anything to do with what Oliver was referring too? Roy wanted to but in and defend Felicity, but knew she would want to stand up for herself, anyway, it seemed that she was doing just fine, so he listened.

Oliver and Felicity both brought up good points, but Felicity was right in saying that if Oliver didn't want them to have secrets, then he should share his. And then she brought up their regrets. She mentioned how he "grew up in the Glades" and Roy couldn't help but think about the days where he would steal or get into fights just to survive as a teenager. The days he wished he had more money to look after his mother. He looked at Sarah and Diggle; each of them were thinking back to their own regrets.

Olive slammed his fists onto the table, bringing Roy back from his thoughts as Oliver landed another verbal strike "We are not talking about them! We are talking about you, and your failure at doing the one thing you're meant to be good at!", Roy couldn't stand being on the sidelines anymore. Not after that. Felicity's face held a sadness that couldn't be described with words. He needed to do something. So he started shouting at Oliver, defending her. When it was clear that Oliver wasn't going to be seeing reason, he turned back to her and motioned that she follow him as he walked out of the foundry.

Felicity followed Roy up the narrow metal staircase, feeling as if she were on auto-piolet. Her mind was empty and numb, and yet, at the same time, her thoughts were racing so fast that she could barely register when one started and one ended. Did Oliver really think that lowly of her? She had felt that she was helping people in Star City, but maybe she wasn't good enough. Perhaps team arrow didn't really need her after all.

Downstairs, Diggle and Sarah's eyes flickered between Oliver and themselves. Oliver was beating up his dummies like there was no tomorrow. They weren't quite sure what to do. This wasn't the first time that Oliver had fought with a member of the team, but they both couldn't help but feel that Oliver had overstepped a line this time.

Sarah stood by Felicity's desk, looking at her computer. The screen was filled with so many green lines full of commands that had yet to be finished. Felicity had obviously been in the middle of something when they had arrived.

Sarah couldn't help but feel slightly confused at the argument she had with Oliver. It felt like she was missing an essential piece of the puzzle—a bit of information that she hadn't been given. Years of working in the league had taught her not to go into a fight without all of the details. It was why she hadn't said anything. She knew that eventually, someone would tell her what was going on, and then, and only then would she decide what side of the argument she was on. Until then, this was Felicity's fight, unless, Felicity truly needed her help. The cute I.T girl had warmed her way into the heart of the assassin, and Sarah knew that if there were ever a time that called for it, Sarah would break her very own rules for her.

She had been about to too, when Oliver had said that she was 'failing the one good thing she was meant to be good at' she had been about to say something, but then Roy had stepped in—saving her from breaking her rules.

John Diggle, ever the peacemaker could see both sides of the argument. He knew that when Oliver said secrets could break a team that he was speaking the truth. Four years in Afghanistan had taught him that to be a team; you had to trust each other with not only your own lives but the lives of innocents. And to trust, you needed to know your teammates, know them better than a married couple would know their partner. A good team would not keep secrets from each other.

However, Felicity had brought up an excellent point; he was notorious for keeping his own secrets. And until Olver decided to open up about his past, the team would always have its secrets. No matter what Felicity shared.

Oliver threw punch after punch, hitting the dummy each time with a loud bang. He was fuming. How could Roy and Felicity not see that she was wrong? That keeping secrets was going to tear the team apart. He needed to purge the city of evil and to do that he needed to have a team. A group of people he could trust, whether they were fighting alongside him or on the computer. He needed to trust them. With that thought, he hit the dummy one more time with all his might. And turned around to look at Sarah and Diggle, "I'm calling it a night, go home and rest." He grabbed his shirt that he had thrown off and told Dig to bring the car around. While he was putting it on, he heard Dig leave.

Sarah kept her face to remain passive as she grabbed her stuff and left the foundry without a word or even a glance at Oliver. He started going around the foundry shutting things off, when he reached Felicity's computer he saved and closed each tab, leaving just her home screen showing; a picture of everyone in the team smiling in front of Verdant. Everyone looked so happy. He studied Felicity's face. He hadn't seen her that relaxed in months.

Once Roy and Felicity had reached Felicity's car, he turned to face her, her face was void of emotion, and yet he knew that she was close to breaking down to tears. He also knew that there was no way that she would be able to drive her car home safely, so he gently asked for the keys, she fumbled about for them showing him just how much Oliver's words had affected her.

The car ride out of the Glades was silent; each person was in deep thought.

Roy glanced at Felicity. She was staring out of the window watching the buildings fly by, her reflection in the window showed him that a few tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey, Felicity?"

He returned his eyes to the rode, pretending not to notice her as she wiped her face.

She made a small sound to let him know she was listening.

"Do you want to go to Belly Burger? To, you know, get some food?" He knew that she had most likely not managed to eat yet, she was so good at reminding people to eat, and yet she often forgot about her own needs. Sides, food can solve anything.

"Yeah, sure." Her voice was so quiet that he barely heard her over the passing car.

The rest of the journey was quiet except for the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the car and the occasional driver still awake.

They made it to Belly Burger in good time, and it wasn't long before Roy had parked and they were both sitting in a booth. The place was empty except for a couple and the waitress.

The silence between them was only broken when the waitress asked tentatively "so… you guys ready to order?" they quickly told her their order before they lapsed back into silence. Dinner, if you could call it that at midnight, arrived quickly. Roy said a "thank you," to the waitress, but Felicity stayed silent, looking deep in thought.

To Roy, the silence was deafening. It was usually Felicity who was doing the talking, filling an empty void with her words, and yet, she was being quieter than a mouse. He didn't know what to do. A silent Felicity was an entirely new concept to him. Her silence made him uneasy. The person in front of him might of as well be a stranger.

Roy watched as Felicity fiddled with her fries, normally by now she would've stolen his ketchup by now. However, he was just glad that she was eating, even if it wasn't a lot.

He knew that the fight with Oliver had shaken her, but he also knew that she would bounce back to her usual self with time.

"Olivers wrong you know, you do a lot for the team. You put loads of your time, your personal time, into doing things for the team. You're always doing something or other to help him. I've seen you drop everything at the drop of a hat the second he needs your help. Does he even know how much you've done for him? For the team? And yet, he gets all the credit as the hood…"

Felicity's thoughts drifted, she was thinking about telling Roy, thinking about telling him about her past and everything she's ever held back from him. But the emotional part of her brain, the side that wanted to cry, was scared he would judge her, or maybe hate her for keeping secrets from him. She knew it was silly, this was Roy she was thinking about. Sweet, Caring Roy. But still, she couldn't help but think that he was going to hate her. There had been several times where she had managed to convince herself to tell Roy or Diggle, but every time she opened her mouth to tell them, she would freeze up, no words would come out, and then she would close it again—giving up. She wouldn't do that today. Today she would tell them.

"Hey, Roy?" he stopped talking and looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"We're friends, right?" Roy looked at her as if she had asked if the sky was blue, she knew that he probably thought it was a stupid question, but she just had to ask.

"Of course, who else am I going to complain about Oliver too? Or learn archery from a secret master from?" Felicity smiled at the reference to earlier that night. "Why?"

"Umm…. well, uhh, I haven't been completely honest with you…" she drifted off, wanting to see how he would react to the first truth of many to occur that night.

Roy's eyebrows scrunched together in thought. He had known that Felicity hadn't been completely honest, her knowing archery had been a big clue in. He knew that whatever she had kept from him had been a secret for a reason; he trusted her. "Okay... are you some sort of alien sent to earth to learn how to take control of humans?" he asked jokingly, hoping to ease her nerves a little bit. She cracked a nervous smile, so he counted it as a small win.

"No, not quite." She breathed in and then out, _start small _she told herself, she could do this. "My last name technically isn't Smoak, well it is, I'm not committing identity theft, honest. Me and my name are legal. It's on my passport." Roy smiled at her rambling but was confused. If her last name wasn't Smoak, then what was it? Why change it? Was she in some sort of witness protection? Was she in danger? 

Felicity carried on, "but I wasn't born as Felicity Smoak. I was born as Felicity Megan Barton. After my dad left, my mum changed it to Smoak as that was her real surname, but my brother managed to keep his last name as Barton."

"Wait a moment, did you just say brother? Since when do you have a brother?" Out of all the secrets Roy had thought about, this was not what Roy was expecting. He didn't quite know what he was expecting but her having a secret brother definitely wasn't it.

"Yeah, I have a brother. But that's not the main part of the secret, well it is, me having a brother is important to understand for the next part, So maybe it is. Or maybe it's a secret but in different parts? Like part 1, part 2, part 3 etc. etc." Felicity rambled on, only stopping when she saw Roy's face. Roy was looking at her; confused. He had thought that that had been the secret, not that that was only the tip of the ice-berg.

"My brother's name is Clint Barton."

Roy stared at her, not blinking, "I'm sorry, did I hear you, right? Did you say, 'Clint Barton'? As in Hawkeye? The Archer Avenger?"

Felicity nodded her head up and down as she recalled the weird names the press gave her brother "Yep. That sounds about right."

Roy stared at her in disbelief, there was no way, If Hawkeye had a sister then surely the news would be all over her, but there was no way that Felicity would lie. He distinctly heard the entry bell chime, but he was too busy staring at Felicity in shock to care too much. He ignored the pair of footsteps until they had stopped right in front of their booth. He looked up.

John Diggle was standing with his arms crossed, looking at them both with raised eyebrows and a smirk, "how is it, that I knew you guys would both be here?"

"What can we say? They have good burgers." Roy defended as he smirked back at Diggle.

Dig tilted his head to look at Felicity, "how are you doing? What Oliver said, it's not true. You are amazing at your job. We would probably be in prison without you."

Felicity smiled at him "Thanks Dig, you wanna join us?"

Diggle ended up sitting next to Roy while enjoying a bag of greasy onion rings. "So, what did I miss?"

Roy looked at Felicity, not sure if she wanted to tell Dig about her brother. He hoped she would; he didn't want for her to close up and not talk to him.

"Oh nothing much," she told him, "we were just talking about my brother."

Diggle nodded his head while chewing, and then what she said hit him, he looked up suddenly, "wait, you have a brother?"

**TBC**

**Over 3000 words! And within the month, you guys should count yourselves lucky. **

**Thank you**_** Nobodytome **_**and **_**eloislili **_**for your reviews, it helped to motivate me to write this chapter. So, Thank You! Also, thanks to all those who favourited or followed, every time I get a notification like that it always brings a smile to my face.**

**Please review, as it does bring a smile to all writers out there no matter how long the review is. Let me know what you thought of this chapter! Or if you want to see something specific happen.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Arrow or Avengers, I would be celebrating my life, not sitting in the middle of a messy room writing on fanfiction net. Lol. **


End file.
